Consultiger started this year with an objective of spreading positivity. We did not know then that an infectious agent that is invisible to the naked eye would impact the world so negatively.

A new set of rules of doing business and of leading life will emerge soon; we think that would be for the good. From the business perspective, industries will adopt ‘safe’ business practices. The business models will also be tweaked based on the experience from the lock-down. Here are five developments that we think would be the norm going forward.

#01. Virtual Conferencing

Meeting people in a physical environment has always been over-hyped. In the absence of a supporting technology, we did not have a choice. But this lock-down has shown that meeting someone was never a necessity. Instead, one can save time and money by not travelling and by virtually connecting with people via your laptop/mobile device. The proven fact is that more stuff is getting done in these times and while leaving almost zero carbon footprint at the same time.

#02. Cloud Consulting

Technical experts of the manufacturing sector will leverage technology to offer their consulting services. While there still may be reasons to visit a plant, technology will help consultants to perform their role effectively without travelling to the site. Online tools for project management, relationship management, telephony, document sharing would make offsite consulting the preferred choice for clients. Incidental costs – like travel, stay, etc – that could actually be substantial can be avoided completely.

#03. Online Learning

Companies will not have employees moving around the country for training purposes. Instead, the training department will develop in-house skills in creating training videos and managing the associated technologies. Companies will have online training modules for employee induction, orientation, new product training, etc. While several tech-led companies are already doing all of this, the traditional manufacturing companies will also adopt this route actively for their training needs.

#04. Immersive Shopping

The e-commerce shopping experience would be further enhanced by the prolific use of augmented reality (AR). The AR app will let you try out new dresses, place your new furniture in your house’s setting, sit inside a new car to get a feel. While all this is already in place from the technology stand-point, it will become a norm soon thanks to this new stuff called ‘contact-less buying’. The AR shopping experience will also step into physical stores to make your in-shop buying a pleasure.

#05. Healthier Environments

The offices and factories will become a healthier place by design. You will have well-ventilated spaces, standing desks, more hand sanitizers, more air purifiers and anything else that will keep the place clean and airy. When employees walk into the office they would know that they are walking into a safe, uncontaminated zone.

We are hopeful of a very promising business climate ahead for all of us.